Kia Optima Hybrid introduced – market entry in early 2011

Yet another joins the crossbreed ranks and this one is from Korean automaker Kia. The company introduced its new Kia Optima Hybrid Sedan at the 2010 LA Auto demo and the vehicle is slated to make its US market debut early next year.

It’s fitted out with a parallel hybrid system where a 2.4 litre Theta II Atkinson cycle petrol engine is mated to a small electric agent and drives the front wheels via a six-speed automatic transmission without the traditional torque converter.

  The car’s 30kW Interior Permanent Magnet (IPM) synchronous  electric motor – described by Kia engineers as a Transmission-Mounted-Electric-Drive (TMED) – sits within the car’s extended transmission casing between the petrol engine and the automatic gearbox and is the world’s first oil-cooled system.

 A special clutch is fitted between the causal agent and motor enabling the petrol causal agent to be de-coupled from the powertrain so that Optima can be operated in zero-emissions full-electric drive mode from standstill up to 100 kph. Such is the configuration that a high-capacity electric drive and generator isn’t required thus saving weight and cost.

When setting off the Optima Hybrid operates in Electric Mode and as the vehicle speeding rises the 8.5 kW Hybrid Starter motor/Generator (HSG) starts the petrol engine and the clutch is closed allowing the engine to take over the task of propelling the car. The electric motor switches into hybrid operation and serves as both a incidental  engine (during full acceleration and hill-climbing) and a generator to recharge the battery pack as necessary.

The centrifugal offers 30 kW (40 hp) and 205 Nm of torque from 0 to 1400 rpm in electric mode and the combined hybrid powertrain of electric centrifugal and engine puts out 154 kW (206 hp) and 265 Nm. public presentation specs include a 0-100 kph time of 9.2 seconds a top speed of 195 kph and a combined fire economy of 6.2 litres per 100km which is a significant improvement over a bog down standard Optima.
  Battery-wise the railcar employs a 34 kW lithium polymer battery array developed in partnership with LG Chem. Compared with nickel-metal hydride batteries lithium polymer batteries librate 20-30% less occupy 40% less volume are 10% more efficient and can hold their charge 25% longer than NiMh units.

So reliable is the battery package which weighs in at just 43.6 kg that a replacement isn’t needed for at littlest 10 years/250000 km says the company.

The Optima Hybrid gets a few tweaks to aid it along aerodynamically speaking – the car is lowered by 5mm and new features include an active air flap in the front grille smooth underfloor panels low-drag wheels and low rolling resistance tyres all aiding to reduce the drag coefficient to 0